UK Politics

Penny Mordaunt and Angela Rayner clash over defenceSign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak is claimed to be despondent over the furious backlash to his decision to skip a D-Day memorial attended by other world leaders, as a second cabinet minister openly criticised the decision.Transport secretary Mark Harper described Mr Sunak’s decision to miss the 80th anniversary event in Normandy as a “mistake”, after his cabinet colleague Penny Mordaunt condemned it as “completely wrong” in a fiery seven-way BBC debate on Friday night.Cabinet ministers told Bloomberg his misstep had exacerbated their concerns about his judgement – including one former loyalist said they regretted the Tories had not ousted him as PM earlier this year.And one insider told The Times they had “never heard it so quiet” at CCHQ after the PM’s decision to skip the international memorial sparked a major backlash.Broadcasters were also met with silence on Saturday, as a scheduled media slot with the prime minister was cancelled during a campaign visit to a walled garden at Auckland Castle on Saturday. Voters could be seen gathered at a hillside above the garden to try and catch a glimpse of him within.Show latest update 1717858538Sunak asked about NHS backlog at village feteRishi Sunak received a largely warm welcome from attendees at a village fete in his Richmond constituency on Saturday afternoon, where he met stall holders, chatted with members of the public, and played a game of “splat the rat”.He was welcomed by applause from some who appeared to be local Conservative members, but a consultant who identified herself as only Chloe to the PA news agency asked the PM about the NHS backlog as he arrived.The doctor, who said she recently rejoined Labour ahead of the election, said she “wanted to know what his plan is for waiting lists” and claimed the government had left the NHS “completely unprepared” for the pandemic.Elsewhere at the fete, children shouted “we love you Rishi” and filmed the PM as he visited a stall fronted by gift bags which read “Wine or Surprise”.Tom Wilson, Labour’s candidate for the reorganised Richmond and Northallerton constituency that Mr Sunak is seeking to hold, was also at the village event and at one point could be seen following the Prime Minister’s party at a distance.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at a village fete More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email Slovakia’s prime minister was shot multiple times in an assassination attempt last month and still faces a long recovery. The Danish prime minister was assaulted by a man Friday evening in downtown Copenhagen. German politicians have faced a wave of physical and verbal attacks for months.Political violence appears to be rising across the Europe, where societies are deeply polarized in the face of widespread migration from the Middle East and Africa and are badly shaken by the war in Ukraine, the largest conflict on the continent since World War II.The recent violence has come in the runup to elections taking place this weekend to the European Parliament, the legislative branch of the 27-member bloc. In general, EU elections do not arouse the same kinds of passions as elections in the individual nations, and to what extent the violence is driven by the campaign climate is not clear. But the backdrop of migration pressure has awakened strong feelings, and is expected to lead to a political shift to the right in the EU legislature.The most serious attack so far has been that against Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who struggled for his life after multiple shots were fired on him on May 15 as he greeted supporters. Fico, who took office last fall after campaigning on a pro-Russian and anti-American platform, suggested in a prerecorded video this week that he was targeted because of his views that differ sharply from the European mainstream. Now some critics worry that Fico, who already faced accusations of eroding democratic norms before the attack, is trying to use the assassination attempt to mobilize support for his populist left-wing Smer party.The attack on Fico followed a wave of violence elsewhere, most recently on Friday evening on the streets of Copenhagen, when a 39-year-old man assaulted Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.Frederiksen, the leader of the Danish Social Democrats, was rushed to a hospital for a check-up, and though unharmed, she was “shaken by the incident,” according to her office. She canceled campaign events on Saturday, the eve of voting in her country.Details of the incident remain unclear but local media reported that the man seems to have forcefully walked toward Frederiksen and pushed her hard.To some, the assaults on elected leaders add to the growing sense of democracy itself being under attack. “An attack on a democratically elected leader is also an attack on our democracy,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Saturday.In France, the lead Socialist candidate in the EU elections, Raphael Glucksmann, was pelted with eggs and paint-filled projectiles at a May Day event last month and was exfiltrated by security agents, followed by angry demonstrators.Extreme-right figure Eric Zemmour hit a woman who threw an egg at him while campaigning in Corsica in early May.In Germany both government and opposition parties say their members and supporters have faced a wave of physical and verbal attacks in recent months.Last month, Berlin’s deputy mayor was attacked at an event in a local library by a man who approached her from behind and hit her with what police described as a bag containing a hard device. Before that, a candidate from Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party was beaten up in Dresden while campaigning for the European election and had to undergo surgery. This week, a far-right candidate campaigning for local elections being held the same day was stabbed and hurt in Mannheim.“We have seen in recent weeks that readiness to use violence to pursue political aims or to muzzle people has increased,” Lars Klingbeil, one of the co-leaders of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party, told parliament on Thursday. “Representatives of all political parties have been physically assaulted in recent weeks … Violence must have no place in our society. There is no ‘yes, but,’ there is no playing it down.”In the UK, which holds its own national election on July 4, pro-Brexit, anti-immigration campaigner Nigel Farage was pelted with a milkshake this week after he stepped back into frontline British politics, announcing he will take the helm of the right-wing party Reform U.K. and run for Parliament.A 25-year-old woman was charged with assault.___Geir Moulson in Berlin, Jari Tanner in Helsinki, Angela Charlton in Paris and Brian Melley in London contributed. More

Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UKSign up to our Brexit email for the latest insightThe Liberal Democrat election manifesto will include a commitment to ensure under-35s can live, study and work in the EU despite Brexit, The Independent can reveal.The party will also accuse the Conservative government of “abandoning young people and our economy”.It comes as Ed Davey’s party battles to win younger, more Labour-minded voters in key ‘blue wall’ seats in the south of England it believes it can take from the Tories.In April, both Labour and the Conservatives rejected an EU offer to strike a post-Brexit agreement to allow young Britons to make a home in the bloc for up to four years.The move triggered anger with thousands of voters writing to their MP to demand they accept. The EU has offered a mobility scheme for young people, but it has been rejected by the government More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailReform chairman Richard Tice has accused the Tories of “dirty tricks” after one of his party’s candidates withdrew his papers to stand at the last minute and endorsed former cabinet minister Sir Gavin Williamson.In a dramatic final 24 hours before nominations closed there had been fevered speculation that as many as six Tory MPs and other candidates could defect to Reform after Nigel Farage decided to stand in Clacton and become leader.But instead no Tories switched and Tom Wellings, the Reform candidate for the new seat of Stone, Great Wryly and Penkridge in Staffordshire, quit and put out a statement endorsing Sir Gavin.It all meant that Reform are understood to have fielded 611 candidates just short of the 630 they had hoped for.Richard Tice is angry at the last minute defection More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailIt’s been another barnstorming week on the campaign trail as the political parties jostle for your vote at the general election on July 4.The Independent has pinpointed these key moments week:Sunak’s D-Day calamityThe prime minister made easily the largest gaffe of the campaign so far by ducking out early from the D-Day commemoration events in Normandy, France, on Thursday. His baffling decision not to stand alongside other world leaders on a world stage prompted fury, with at least one Normandy veteran suggesting the prime minister had let his country down. Mr Sunak apologised for the error, but the damage was done.Farage hit with milkshakeAnother unwelcome development for Mr Sunak was Nigel Farage’s U-turn decision to stand for election in Clacton-on-Sea. Speaking to hundreds of supporters at a rally on Tuesday, Mr Farage said he would be a “bloody nuisance” in Westminster. He has his sights set on leading Reform past the Tories on the right of UK politics. The day’s campaigning ended on a sour note for Mr Farage as, not for the first time, he was doused in milkshake. Sunak was offered deal to stop FarageIt was revealed exclusively by The Independent that in recent months a deal was in the works between Rishi Sunak and Nigel Farage’s parties to clear the way for the Conservatives at the election. Tory Brexiteer MP Andrea Jenkyns and former Leave.EU communications director Andy Wigmore tried to broker the deal, but sources told us that Mr Sunak was ultimately dissuaded by his advisers.Leader of Reform UK Nigel Farage (James Manning/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email A man who reportedly assaulted the Danish Prime Minister in central Copenhagen will appear in a pre-trial custody hearing on Saturday, authorities said.Police confirmed “there has been an incident” with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Friday and that a 39-year-old man was arrested. They didn’t provide further details and it wasn’t clear if Frederiksen was hurt.The man is expected to arrive at 1100 GMT at the Copenhagen District Court in Frederiksberg, a municipality enclave within the Danish capital.The prime minister’s office told the Danish state broadcaster DR on Friday that Frederiksen was “shocked” by what happened.Two eyewitnesses, Anna Ravn and Marie Adrian, told the daily BT that they saw a man walking toward Frederiksen and then “pushing her hard on the shoulder so she was shoved aside.” They stressed that the premier did not fall down.Another witness, Kasper Jørgensen, told the Ekstra Bladet tabloid that a well-dressed man, who seemed part of Frederiksen’s protection unit, and a police officer took down the alleged assailant. Søren Kjærgaard who was working at a local bar on Kultorvet Square where the incident happened told the BT that he saw Frederiksen after the incident and she had no visible injuries to her face but walked away quickly.Politicians in the Scandinavian country and abroad condemned the reported assault. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said that “an attack on a democratically elected leader is also an attack on our democracy,” while Charles Michel, president of the European Council, condemned on X what he called a “cowardly act of aggression.”European Union parliamentary elections are currently underway in Denmark and the rest of the 27-nation bloc and will conclude on Sunday. Frederiksen has been campaigning with the Social Democrats’ EU lead candidate, Christel Schaldemose. Media reports said the attack was not linked to a campaign event.Violence against politicians has become a theme in the run-up to the EU elections. In May, a candidate from Germany’s center-left Social Democrats was beaten and seriously injured while campaigning for a seat in the European Parliament. In Slovakia, the election campaign was overshadowed by an attempt to assassinate populist Prime Minister Robert Fico on May 15, sending shockwaves through the nation of 5.4 million and reverberating throughout Europe.Frederiksen, 46, is the leader of the Social Democratic Party and has been Denmark’s prime minister since 2019.She has steered Denmark through the global COVID-19 pandemic and a controversial 2020 decision to wipe out Denmark’s entire captive mink population to minimize the risk of the small mammals retransmitting the virus.Assaults on politicians in Denmark are rare. On March 23, 2003, two activists threw red paint on then-Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen inside the parliament and were immediately arrested. Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller also suffered some splashes that day.—David Keyton in Berlin contributed to this report. More

Penny Mordaunt and Angela Rayner clash over defenceSign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak is claimed to be despondent over the furious backlash to his decision to skip a D-Day memorial attended by other world leaders, as a second cabinet minister openly criticised the decision.Transport secretary Mark Harper described Mr Sunak’s decision to miss the 80th anniversary event in Normandy as a “mistake”, after his cabinet colleague Penny Mordaunt condemned it as “completely wrong” in a fiery seven-way BBC debate on Friday night.Cabinet ministers told Bloomberg his misstep had exacerbated their concerns about his judgement – including one former loyalist said they regretted the Tories had not ousted him as PM earlier this year.And one insider told The Times they had “never heard it so quiet” at CCHQ after the PM’s decision to skip the international memorial sparked a major backlash.Broadcasters were also met with silence on Saturday, as a scheduled media slot with the prime minister was cancelled during a campaign visit to a walled garden at Auckland Castle on Saturday. Voters could be seen gathered at a hillside above the garden to try and catch a glimpse of him within.Show latest update 1717858538Sunak asked about NHS backlog at village feteRishi Sunak received a largely warm welcome from attendees at a village fete in his Richmond constituency on Saturday afternoon, where he met stall holders, chatted with members of the public, and played a game of “splat the rat”.He was welcomed by applause from some who appeared to be local Conservative members, but a consultant who identified herself as only Chloe to the PA news agency asked the PM about the NHS backlog as he arrived.The doctor, who said she recently rejoined Labour ahead of the election, said she “wanted to know what his plan is for waiting lists” and claimed the government had left the NHS “completely unprepared” for the pandemic.Elsewhere at the fete, children shouted “we love you Rishi” and filmed the PM as he visited a stall fronted by gift bags which read “Wine or Surprise”.Tom Wilson, Labour’s candidate for the reorganised Richmond and Northallerton constituency that Mr Sunak is seeking to hold, was also at the village event and at one point could be seen following the Prime Minister’s party at a distance.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at a village fete More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailPenny Mordaunt was forced to open the second televised election debate with an apology and admission that her leader Rishi Sunak was “wrong” over leaving the D-Day commemorations early in another bad night for the Tories.But the Tory cabinet minister sought to make the seven-party event into a two-way fight between herself and Angela Rayner, who stood next to her in the line-up, in what another panellist SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn described as an “unedifying” row.The lineup also included Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper, Plaid Cymru’s Rhun ap Iorwerth, Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer and Reform UK’s Nigel Farage.From left, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, leader of Plaid Cymru Rhun ap Iorwerth, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper, Stephen Flynn of the SNP, co-leader of the Green Party Carla Denyer, deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner and Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt, take part in the BBC Election Debate hosted by BBC news presenter Mishal Husain (Stefan Rousseau/PA) More